Global System for Mobile

Communications (GSM)
 GSM burst
• The GSM burst, or transmission can fulfill a
variety of functions. Some GSM bursts are
used for carrying data while others are used for
control information. As a result of this a number
of different types of GSM burst are defined.
• Normal burst   uplink and downlink
• Synchronization burst  downlink
• Frequency correction burst  downlink
• Random Access (Shortened Burst)   uplink
Five major GSM bursts
 GSM normal burst
• This GSM burst is used for the standard
communications between the base station and the
mobile, and typically transfers the digitized voice data.
• The structure of the normal GSM burst is exactly
defined and follows a common format. It contains data
that provides a number of different functions:
• 3 tail bits:   These tail bits at the start of the GSM
burst give time for the transmitter to ramp up its power
• 57 data bits:   This block of data is used to carry
information, and most often contains the digitized
voice data although on occasions it may be replaced
with signaling information in the form of the Fast
Associated Control Channel (FACCH). The type of
data is indicated by the flag that follows the data field
 GSM normal burst Cont..
• 1 bit flag:   This bit within the GSM burst indicates the
type of data in the previous field.
• 26 bits training sequence:   This training sequence
is used as a timing reference and for equalization.
There is a total of eight different bit sequences that
may be used, each 26 bits long. The same sequence
is used in each GSM slot, but nearby base stations
using the same radio frequency channels will use
different ones, and this enables the mobile to
differentiate between the various cells using the same
frequency.
• 1 bit flag   Again this flag indicates the type of data in
the data field.
 GSM normal burst Cont..
• 57 data bits   Again, this block of data within the GSM burst is
used for carrying data.
• 3 tail bits   These final bits within the GSM burst are used to
enable the transmitter power to ramp down. They are often
called final tail bits, or just tail bits.
• 8.25 bits guard time   At the end of the GSM burst there is a
guard period. This is introduced to prevent transmitted bursts
from different mobiles overlapping. As a result of their differing
distances from the base station.

GSM Normal Burst

 GSM synchronization burst
• The purpose of this form of GSM burst is to
provide synchronization for the mobiles on the
network.
• 3 tail bits:   Again, these tail bits at the start of
the GSM burst give time for the transmitter to
ramp up its power
• 39 bits of information:  
• 64 bits of a Long Training Sequence:  
• 39 bits Information:  
 GSM synchronization burst Cont..
• 3 tail bits   Again these are to enable the
transmitter power to ramp down.
• 8.25 bits guard time:   to act as a guard
interval.

GSM Synchronization Burst

 GSM frequency correction burst
• With the information in the burst all set to zeros,
the burst essentially consists of a constant
frequency carrier with no phase alteration.
• 3 tail bits:   Again, these tail bits at the start of
the GSM burst give time for the transmitter to
ramp up its power.
• 142 bits all set to zero: 
• 3 tail bits   Again these are to enable the
transmitter power to ramp down. 
GSM frequency correction burst Cont..
• 8.25 bits guard time:   to act as a guard
interval.

GSM Frequency Correction Burst

 GSM random access burst
• This form of GSM burst used when accessing the
network and it is shortened in terms of the data
carried, having a much longer guard period. This GSM
burst structure is used to ensure that it fits in the time
slot regardless of any severe timing problems that
may exist. Once the mobile has accessed the network
and timing has been aligned, then there is no
requirement for the long guard period.
• 7 tail bits:   The increased number of tail bits is
included to provide additional margin when accessing
the network.
• 41 training bits:  
 GSM random access burst Cont..
• 36 data bits:  
• 3 tail bits   Again these are to enable the
transmitter power to ramp down.
• 69.25 bits guard time:   The additional guard
time, filling the remaining time of the GSM burst
provides for large timing differences.

GSM Random Access Burst

GSM frame structure
Signal Processing in GSM
 Speech Coding
• The GSM speech coder is based on the
Residually Excited Linear Predictive Coder
(RELP), which is enhanced by including a
Long-Term Predictor (LTP).
• The coder provides 260 bits for each 20ms
blocks of speech, which yields a bit rate of
13kbps.
• RELP Vocoder consists of two filters
a) Short Term prediction (STP) filter
b) Long Term prediction (LTP) filter
 Speech Coding Cont.. (STP)
• Speech data inherently contain a high level of
redundancy, therefore it is possible to predict a
future speech sample from previous speech
samples. i.e. speech samples may be
approximated as the linear combination of past
speech samples.
• In GSM 8 past samples are used to predict the
next samples. The filter which do this is called
Short Term Prediction (STP) filter.
 Speech Coding Cont.. (LTP)
• The output from STP generally exhibits a
certain amount of periodicity related to the pitch
period of the original speech when it is voiced.
• This periodicity represents a further level of
redundancy, which can be removed using a
pitch predictor or LTP.
• In GSM Long Term Prediction filter operates on
a 5ms speech (40 samples)
 Speech Coding Cont.. (VAD)
• During a typical telephone conversation, a
person generally speaks for 40% of the time.
• The interference level may be reduced and the
MS battery recharging cycle increased by
turning the transmitter off during periods of
silence.
• This techniques known as discontinuous
transmission (DTX) and relies on the accurate
detection of periods of silence in the user’s
speech.
 Speech Coding Cont.. (VAD)
• This is achieved using voice activity detection (VAD)
where the energy in the speech signal; is computed
for each speech block and a decision is made using
an adaptive threshold as to whether the block contains
speech or background noise.
• The periods of complete silence introduced by DTX
process at the receiver are annoying since they give
the impression that the link has been lost. To avoid a
silence descriptor (SID) frame is sent instead of
speech frame. The SID is the same size as the
speech frame.
 Channel Coding
• Since channel coding increases the data rate and
hence bandwidth. For this reason, channel coding is
applied in a selective manner in GSM.
• RELP Vocoder delivers 260 bits for each 20ms
speech. These bits are divided into three classes
depending on the impact on the received speech
quality if they are received in error.
• Among 260 bits, the most important 50 bits forms
class Ia. Class Ib consists of 132 bits of moderate
importance and the remaining 78 bits are least
important belonging to class II.
Error Protection for speech signal in
GSM
 Channel Coding Cont..
• After decoding most important 50 Ia bits are
further checked for error by using 3 bits Cyclic
Redundancy Check (CRC) error detection
technique to ensure their correctness.
• Conventional coder is used with k=5 (memory),
therefore four zeros are added after Ib bits to
complete the operation of convolutional
encoder.
 Interleaving
• In the mobile radio environment, the error in the
transmitted bits tends to occur in bursts as the MS
moves into and out of deep fades.
• The convolution error correcting code is most effective
when the errors are randomly distributed throughout
the bit stream.
• For this reason the coded data is interleaved before
transmission. At the receiver, the de-interleaving
process trends to distribute the error bursts randomly
throughout the effectiveness of the subsequent
channel decoding.
 Interleaving Cont..
• In GSM, Interleaving is accomplished as follows:
• Since each GSM frame contains 2 Blocks of 57 bits
each of speech or data. Therefore 8 sub-blocks of 57
bits each are formed from the 456 bits at the output of
channel coder as follows (at the nth time)
 Interleaving Cont..
• Each sub-block contains half bits of time slot
remaining half is occupied by sub-blocks from either
the previous speech frame or the next frame.
• Below blocks of 114 bits each, thus forms the data for
respective time slot in 8 consecutive GSM frames.
Interleaving Cont..
 Ciphering
• The GSM System has the ability to encrypt the
information on the radio path to reduce the
security threat posed by eavesdroppers.
• Ciphering modifies the contents of the eight
interleaved blocks through the use of encryption
techniques known only to the particular mobile
station and base transceiver station.
• Security is further enhanced by the fact that the
encryption algorithm is changed from call to call.
 Ciphering Cont..
• Two types of ciphering algorithms, called A3
and A5, are used in GSM to prevent
unauthorized network access and privacy for
the radio transmission respectively.
• The A3 algorithm is used to authenticate each
mobile by verifying the users passcode within
the SIM with the cryptographic key at the MSC.
• The A5 algorithm provides the scrambling for
the 114 coded data bits sent in each TS.
 Burst Formatting
• Burst Formatting adds binary data to the
ciphering blocks, in order to help
synchronization and equalization of the
received signal.
 Modulation
• The modulation scheme used by GSM is 0.3 GMSK,
where 0.3 describes the 3 DB bandwidth of the
Gaussian pulse shaping filter with relation to the bit
rate (e.g., BT 0.3).
• GMSK is a special type of digital FM modulation. Ones
and zeroes are represented by shifting the RF carrier
by plus or minus 67.708 kHz.
• Modulation techniques that use two frequencies to
represent ones and zeroes are called frequency shift
keying (FSK). In the case of GSM, the data rate of
270.833 kbps is chosen to be exactly four times the
RF frequency shift.
 Modulation Cont..
• This has the effect of minimizing the modulation
spectrum and improving channel efficiency.
• FSK modulation where the bit rate is exactly
four times the frequency shift is called minimum
shift keying (MSK).
• In GSM, the modulation spectrum is further
reduced by applying a Gaussian pre-modulation
filter. This slows down the rapid frequency
transitions, which would otherwise spread
energy into adjacent channels.
 Frequency Hopping
• Under normal conditions, each data burst
belonging to a particular physical channel is
transmitted using the same carrier frequency.
• However, if users in a particular cell have
severe multipath problems, the cell may be
defined as hopping cell by the network
operators, in which case SLOW FREQUENCY
HOPPING may be implemented to combat the
multipath or interference effects in that cell.
 Frequency Hopping Cont..
• Frequency Hopping is carried out on a frame-
by-frame basis, thus hopping occurs at a
maximum rate of 217.6 hops per second.
• As many as 64 different channels may be used
before a hopping sequence is repeated.
• Frequency hopping is completely specified by
the service provider.
 Equalization
• Equalization is performed at the receiver with
the help of the training sequences transmitted
in the midamble of every slot.
• The type of equalizer for GSM is not specified
and is left up to the manufacturer.
 Demodulation
• The portion of the transmitted forward channel
signal which is of interest to a particular user is
determined by the assigned TS and ARFCN.
• The appropriate TS is demodulated with the aid
of synchronization data provide by the burst
formatting.
• After demodulation, the binary information is
deciphered, de-interleaved, channel decoded,
and speech decoded.
Thank you